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U.S. 59, Houston, Texas

Project Details

The U.S. 59 Gateway project widened nearly a mile of freeway close to downtown Houston. The four distinctive steel tied-arch bridges clear span over 224 feet over the freeway. They carry two lanes of traffic, two bicycle lanes, a utility parapet in each direction and sidewalks outside of each arch. Their total widths are 60 feet each. The arches, 45 feet apart, are fabricated from steel plate and braced with rectangular HSS. The deck is composed of full-width precast and pre-stressed panels that are post-tensioned and overlaid with composite concrete.

Project Name: U.S. 59

Location: Houston, Texas

Year Completed: 2007 and 2003

Value: $36.5M

The steel for the new tied-arch bridges was constructed in place over the existing bridges and then each old bridge was demolished using controlled explosions on five separate weekends. The $36.5 million reconstruction was completed 30 days ahead of schedule with a cost savings of $420,000, despite encountering such hurdles as Tropical Storm Allison. The storm dumped more than 38 inches of rain in one weekend, filling the freeway with an estimated 100 million gallons of floodwater from Houston’s bayous. The project team met the challenge and had the freeway cleared, cleaned and reopened in time for the Monday morning rush hour.